Snook



R. SNOOK ROTARY SNOW PLOW 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed DGO. l, 1952 INVENTOR. @j Snoo/f By H TTOFNE Y R. SNOOK ROTARY SNOW PLOW 3 SheetSSheet 2 Filed Dec. l, 1952 EJNVENTOR.

TTR/VEV Oct. 4, 1955 R. sNooK 2,719,368

ROTARY SNOW PLOW Filed Dec. l, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 5 'Il LW IN V EN TOR.

BY /dj/ 5/700# RTARY SNQW PLOW Ray Snook, St. James, Minn.

Application December 1, 1952, Serial No. 323,415

3 Claims. (Cl. 37-43) My invention pertains to a rotary snow plow.

An object of my invention is to provide auxiliary means attached to a rotary snow plow wherein a plurality of vertically positioned helical conveyors are arranged to convey snow downwardly into the rotary elements of the plow, thereby providing means for removing the snow and discharging the same under conditions when the snow is higher than the normal rotary plow itself, together with attendant means for allowing the helical conveyors to drop to a horizontal position when they are not required.

A further object of my invention is to provide further cutting bar means for working cooperatively with the helical elements, with means for actuating said cutting bars vertically, and with means attached to said cutting bars to pull snow downwardly from higher elevations if such is necessary.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for arranging the helical elements and the other elements in a manner whereby the snow is attacked eiiiciently, and to further provide in a modified form, a rigid casing including the aforesaid helical conveyors.

With these and other objects in View, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts of my device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a forward elevation of the plow,

Figure 2 is a plan view of the plow,

Figure 3 is a sectional view of Figure l taken along the lines 3-3 thereof,

Figure 4 is a detail,

Figure 5 is a sectional view corresponding to Figure 3 of a modification, and

Figure 6 is a sectional View taken along the lines 6-6 of Figure 3.

My invention contemplates the provision of an eiliciently working snow plow wherein rotary elements are employed in combination with a fan housing for discharg ing the snow gathered by said rotary elements, and to provide in conjunction therewith a certain helical conveyor structure for transferring the upper snow downwardly into said rotary elements, and to provide other means as well. The present invention is an improvement on my patent on a Rotary Snow Plow, No. 2,283,101, issued May 12, 1942, certain elements of said patent being shown herein, and with my present improvements be ing attached thereto.

I have used the character 10 to designate the side walls of the forward portion of my rotary plow, the character 11 indicating the forward terminals of a pair of shafts to which are attached the cutting liaps 12, there being three iiaps on each shaft, these iiaps being arranged in overlying relation as disclosed in the aforesaid patent, the driving portions of these members not being shown herein since they are not essential to the present inven tion, the character 13 indicating a pair of further shafts to which are attached the fan blades 14, the fan blades Patent O 14 operating within casings 15, which casings communicate with the neck 16, the neck 16 terminating in the discharging spout member 17 (see Figure l).

I have further used the character 18 to indicate the rear wall of a further pivoted casing which is positioned slightly angularly as shown in Figure 3, :and includes the side walls 19, the casing being open at its forward end 2t), and journalled at 21 to the top wall 22 of this casing are a series of equally spaced shafts 23 upon which shafts are secured the helical conveyors 24, the casing 18 being pivoted at a point 25, and coincident with this point there being a plurality of universal joints 26 attached to the horizontally positioned shafts 27, these joints thereby being connected to the shafts 23, the shafts 27 passing through the rear wall 28 of the forward housing, and attached to the shafts 27 are the bevel gears 29 which mesh with further bevel gears 30, which bevel gears 30 are attached to the pair of shafts 31, there being a shaft 31 at either side of the arrangement as shown in Figure 2, the shafts 31 being journalled in the bearings 32, A sprocket 33 is attached at either end of the shafts 31, these sprockets being driven by the sprocket chains 34 which can pass to any driving arrangement desired.

The rear wall 28 of the forward housing includes an angularly inclined portion 35 adapted to normally limit the upward movement of the casing 18, and a stop member 36 is attached to either side wall 10.

Passing through upper slots 37 in the casing wall 22 are a series of equally spaced cutter bars 38, to which cutter bars are hinged at 39 the downwardly projecting liaps 40 having the slightly arcuate ends 41.

Attached at the upper portions of the members 40 are the stop members 42 for limiting the flaps 40 so that they will not pass beyond a horizontal position when the cutter bars are moved downwardly, as will be explained.

Attached to the various cutter bars 38 at 43 are the further lengthened bars 44 which are pivotally attached at 45 to the transverse bars 46 and 47, the bar portion 47 being substantially U-shaped in order to straddle the neck 16 of the spout, and pivotally attached at 48 to the transverse bars 46 are the piston rods 49 attached to the pistons 50 which pistons 5i) are mounted within the pair of hydraulic cylinders 51, the hydraulic cylinders 51 being attached at 52 and 53 to an upper oil feed pipe 54 and a lower feed pipe 55, the cylinders 51 being pivoted at 56 to a bracket 57 which is secured to the rear wall 18.

Now that the construction of my plow has been described, I shall explain the operation thereof.

The plow is adapted to travel in the direction of the arrow 58 (see Figure 3), and the cutting flaps 12 will function in the manner described in my prior patent, the snow being rearwardly discharged into the casing portions 15 and thence being blown outwardly therefrom through the spout I7, the spout being revoluble on a vertical axis to direct the snow where it is desired laterally with respect to the plow.

It should be understood specifically herein that my improvements about to be described can be used with other types of cutting or blowing arrangements.

For removing normal heights of snow, the casing member 18 etc. will lie in the approximate position shown by the dotted lines in Figure 3, or will lie practically horizontally, thereby aiding in visibility. However, as soon as deeper or higher snow is encountered, the casing 18 etc. will swing upwardly in the direction of the arrow 59 (see Figure 3) until it is stopped by the portion 35 of the casing wall 28, with the helical members 24 which are rotating at all times, conveying the higher snow downwardly and into the rotating iiaps 12, whereby this higher snow is also conveyed into the fan portions and discharged through the spout. It will be understood that if desired, the universal joint 26 can be covered by any type of suitable housing.

Since the helical conveyors 24 will operate at a fairly rapid speed, the higher snow will be thus carried down in a uniform manner throughout the entire width of the plow and then discharged.

It will be noted that the stop member 36 limits downward movement of the casing 18 etc. It should be realized that although the casing 1S etc. is shown at a certain angle, if desired, a diiferent angle can be employed also as well for the upper limit. It should also be noted that the angularity of the casing 18 etc. also causes a part of the snow to be quickly conveyed downwardly ahead of the blades or aps 12.

The various cutter bars 38 which are positioned adjacently to the helical conveyors provide the important function of cutting into the snow and concentrating the same into each of the conveyors. The lengthened cutter bars 38 with the pivoted flaps 40 provide further means for pulling downwardly or carrying downwardly still higher snow masses, these members being operated by rst raising the same to the extended position shown in the various figures, by feeding oil through the pipes 55 in the lower end of the cylinder 51 which will correspondingly cause the cutter bars 38 to rise, and allowing the arcuate portions 41 of the members 40 to pass upwardly through the snow, since these arcuate portions are of reduced width.

Next, the oil is fed through the upper pipes 54 which correspondingly forces the pistons 50 downwardly and at the same time bringing the cutter bars 38 downwardly, whereupon the curved portions at 41 will cause the aps 40 to swing to a position substantially at right angles to the members 38 where they will be limited by the stop portions 42, these extended members 40 then serving to pull the masses of snow downwardly where they will then pass forwardly of the casing Wall 21 due to the angularity thereof, and thence be carried into the helical elements 24, etc., the snow then being discharged in the usual manner.

It should be noted that the freely pivoting action of the cylinders 51 at 56 will permit operation of the members 38 at practically any angle thereof, and still provide a` reciprocating action within the casing, it being understood, however, that any other type of mechanism for raising or lowering the members 38 can be used as well.

The manner of driving the helical conveyors 24 is readily evident from the gear drives, the universal joints permitting angular positioning of the casing 18 etc. and still allowing driving of the helical elements uniformly.

Figure illustrates a modified form wherein practically all of the various elements are the same with the exception that the swinging housing 18 etc. is replaced by a rigid housing member 60 which is substantially longer and also includes longer helical members 61, which are in all respects the same as the helical member 24, this type of device being used principally as a railroad plow and being suitably attached to the required driving engine or the like, and being usable for still higher snow.

It should also be understood that various modifications could be made in the operating parts of my invention, it being noted, however, that the essential principles are the important parts of the invention.

It will now be seen that I have provided the various advantages set forth in the objects of my invention with various other advantages being readily apparent.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of my invention without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and

it is my intention to cover by my claims any modied forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

l. A rotary snow plow comprising a casing, means operating in said casing for cutting and discharging snow therefrom, an upper auxiliary casing pivotally secured to said casing, said auxiliary casing including a plurality of vertically positioned helical conveyors therein for conveying snow downwardly into said casing, driving means for driving said helical conveyors, universal joints attached between said driving means and said conveyors, said auxiliary casing including a plurality of cutter bars slidably engaged therein and being adapted to move upwardly and downwardly in said casing, said cutter bars extending a substantial distance beyond the normal upper edge of said casing, flaps hinged to the upper ends of said cutter bars for carrying down snow when said cutter bars are drawn downwardly.

2. A rotary snow plow comprising a casing, means operating in said casing for cutting and discharging snow therefrom, an upper auxiliary casing pivotally secured to said casing, said auxiliary casing including a plurality of vertically positioned helical conveyors therein for conveying snow downwardly into said casing, driving means for driving said helical conveyors, universal joints attached between said driving means and said conveyors, said auxiliary casing including a plurality of cutter bars slidably engaged therein and being adapted to move upwardly and downwardly in said casing, said cutter bars extending a substantial distance beyond the normal upper edge of said casing, flaps hinged to the upper ends of said cutter bars for carrying down snow when said cutter bars are drawn downwardly, said flaps having arcuate lower portions for causing said flaps to occupy a position at substantially from said cutter bars when brought downwardly, stop members attached to said flaps to limit upper swinging movement thereof.

3. A rotary snow plow comprising a casing, means operating in said casing for cutting and discharging snow therefrom, an upper auxiliary casing pivotally secured to said casing, said auxiliary casing including a plurality of vertically positioned helical conveyors therein for conveying snow downwardly into said casing, driving means for driving said helical conveyors, universal joints attached between said driving means and said conveyors, said auxiliary casing including a plurality of cutter bars slidably engaged therein and being adapted to move upwardly and downwardly in said casing, said cutter bars extending a substantial distance beyond the normal upper edge of said casing, flaps hinged to the upper ends of said cutter bars for carrying down snow when said cutter bars are drawn downwardly, said flaps having arcuate lower portions for causing said flaps to occupy a position at substantially 90 from said cutter bars when brought downwardly, stop members attached to said flaps to limit upper swinging movement thereof, hydraulic cylinders secured to said casing, said cylinders including pistons, piston rods driven by said pistons, said cutter bars having extended attached rods, means for attaching said extended rods to said piston rods to thereby operate said cutter bars.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,671,358 Fahrney May 29, 1928 1,749,481 Jensen Mar. 4, 1930 2,283,101 Snook May l2, 1942 

